The question of how to update apps on Kindle Fire and NOOK tablets has been coming up a lot lately so it’s time for a post!

WhitneyApps updates our apps often, but lots of people – especially Kindle Fire and NOOK tablet users – miss out on these free enhancements and fixes because updates don’t happen automatically. It’s time to change all that! Here’s how to get those updates. Be sure to connect your device to Wi-Fi before you do this. Ready? Let’s go!

Below are instructions for Kindle Fire HD (both sizes), Kindle Fire, NOOK HD and HD+, and other NOOK devices (NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet). Find the right one for you below and you’ll be updating in no time!

Edited on March 2, 2013 to add ever-so-slightly different instructions for the original Kindle Fire.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD:

Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7″)

1) Turn on the Kindle Fire HD.

2) From the home screen, tap the “Apps” tab near the top of the screen.

3) Here’s the tricky part, tap “Store” at the top right.

4) Now tap the menu icon at the bottom-center of the screen (it looks like a box with three horizontal lines across it).

5) Tap “My Apps”

6) Now tap the “Update Available” tab near the top of the screen (just below “My Apps”).

7) Tap the “Update” button to the right of the apps you’d like to update.

Amazon Kindle Fire:

This is very similar to but not identical to the Kindle Fire HD instructions

1) Turn on the Kindle Fire HD.

2) From the home screen, tap the “Apps” tab near the top of the screen.

3) Here’s the tricky part, tap “Store” at the top right.

4) Now tap the menu icon at the bottom-center of the screen (it looks like a box with three horizontal lines across it).

5) Tap “App Updates” in the menu box that comes up at the bottom of the screen.

6) Now tap the “Update Available” tab near the top of the screen (just below “My Apps”) or tap the “Update” button to the right of the apps you’d like to update.

Barnes & Noble NOOK HD and NOOK HD+:

NOOK HD+

1) Turn on your device and go to the home screen

2) Tap the “Apps” icon at the bottom of the screen.

3) Tap the little “table of contents” icon at the bottom left of the screen. (It looks like four dots with lines to the right of them.)

4) Tap “Check For Updates”

5) Either tap “Update All” or tap individual apps you’d like to update.

Barnes & Noble NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet:

1) Turn on your device and press the ‘n’ key (just below the screen)

2) In the “QuickNav Bar” at the bottom of the sceen, tap “apps”

3) Just above the grid of app icons, on the right side, you’ll see the words “check for updates.”

4) When the “available updates” box appears, tap an app to update just that one or tap the “update all” button to update everything to the latest version. If you see “all apps are up-to-date,” you’re done.